XL Spiral Pro Mixing Paddle





Of all of the tools I have contemplated adding to my studio, the XL mixer should have been sooner on the list. I take all my greenware scraps (pieces not yet fired in the kiln) in various states of dryness from trimming, failed throwing and other miscellaneous pieces I'm not happy with, for whatever reason, and throw them into a bucket with water (usually the remnants from throwing). 
Once the clay has had a chance to reabsorb the water,  I use this tool to mix my reclaim into a buttery consistency before dolloping it out on plaster bats to dry out. Using a mixer means I have to add quite a bit of water and the reclaim has to sit out for longer to dry but I chose a mixer this size on a corded drill so that I would have more power. The paddle itself has too large of a circumference for most corded drills which meant I actually saved when I bought my corded drill instead of a battery operated one. 

Using a mixer means significantly less wedging. It's also really helpful for adding different pigments to create coloured clay. Just be careful to keep all your tools out of the reclaim bucket, I've shredded a sponge into my reclaim, which lead to a whole different kind of problem but, that's a story for another time. 

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